Barnfind Corvettes

My cousin Jim married into two Corvettes; a '66 convertible that is becoming a high end restomod, and also a 2003 50th anniversary convertible.  The latter was Dan's new wife's late husband's every day driver until their youngest son had a relatively mild front ender with it, then it got put away and not too long after, the husband passed away.  The car sat in their garage, unrepaired and otherwise untouched for several years, only showing just over 60K miles.  The boys were going to have it fixed and then sell it, which they did, to stepdad Jim and their mother.  The AnniVette was otherwise in good shape and the bodywork was relatively straightforward, and frame unbent.  I tried to buy it off them, but its family heirloom status prevented that.

Here's how I first saw it a few months ago...

Notice the '66 Convertible Barnfind Vette at right

Fortunately the damage was relatively minimal, and the fixes generally straightforward

Cousin Jim and who is now Mrs. Jim decided they wanted to buy it, fix it, and keep it in the family, as the sons didn't really want it (they are truck, and tuner BMW guys).

So Jim took it to a body shop he had a previous business relationship with, and they did all the repairs and paint fixing and correction, then Cuzzin Jim said to me "this thing is dry and dirty still -- I want to detail it up but don't even know where to start."  I said you start by bringing it to my house and we'll attack.  Plus of course I made him up one of my famous Mothers detail kits in a bucket.

Here's the reborn result:

Gotta luv Jim's photo composition replete with dumpster and porta-jon in the background - right?  They are also remodeling their Skirball Canyon area house.  

We worked on it here for about 7 hours, and then he goes home and fiddle farts around on it for an hour here and an hour there.

Truly hard to believe its the same car, no?